Isobel and I hadn’t spoken since the museum. I wasn’t sure what that meant. Beth had really been rude to Isobel, throwing attitude back in my face. Where were the days where she looked up to me as a hero? When Beth had been a little girl, she would do everything I said; she would worship the ground I walked on. Somewhere, that had changed. Now, it felt like I was just in the way.

Maybe, all teenage parents felt that way. It was something we would get through, but it was affecting my relationships. If that was what it was with Isobel.

I grounded Beth for what she said at the museum. I had never seen her act out that much. Punishing her had been the right thing to do, but I was scared that the damage had already been done.

I wasn’t sure Isobel wanted anything to do with me anymore. If I was trying to build a relationship with someone, and they had a child that was so rude to me, would I walk away? Maybe. I wouldn’t want someone else’s problems to become my own, and Isobel was young enough that she could think that way. She could find a younger man to be with, anytime.

What was I doing? Why did I keep thinking about her as someone I was dating, rather than just a fling? So far, Isobel and I had fucked. I had taken her virginity. There was nothing more to it than that. Yes, I had wanted her to meet Beth, but that was for the sake of keeping things straight in my own life, for making her first time more meaningful. And it had blown up in my face, anyway. Isobel didn’t need this kind of shit in her life.

That was what got to me. What if Isobel turned around and walked away? There was nothing I could do about that. Beth and I would carry on living a life without a woman. Was that really what we needed? Maybe I went too far with this. Maybe, I saw every woman that crossed our path as someone that could fit in with our family. Maybe it was because I felt guilty about Beth growing up without a mother.

I went through the motions, doing my routine as usual. When I taught my class, I spotted Isobel at the back in her usual seat. She didn’t stare at me the way she usually did. Instead, her eyes were on her notes, and she was scribbling furiously. I had no idea what she was thinking.

When class was finally over, I called Isobel aside. She looked reluctant to come with me, but she did, and that was the start.

“I’m sorry for what happened on Saturday,” I said when we were alone. The lecture hall was empty, and it was just the two of us, standing by the podium. “Beth was completely out of line. I punished her for it, but I don’t know what’s gotten into her. I think we might be entering the teenage years and I feel I’ll only be getting more of this.”

Isobel shook her head. “I appreciate it, Alec,” she said. “But I don’t know if we should be doing this.”

“What do you mean?”

“I can’t get between the two of you,” Isobel said. “It would be wrong, and it’s obvious that Beth thinks your relationship is being threatened. I won’t be the one to break the two of you apart.”

I put my hands on Isobel’s shoulders, and she blinked at me. I wasn’t sure if contact was welcomed after what had happened with Beth, but I didn’t want Isobel to just walk out of my life

“Please, give us one more shot? Beth might just need some time to warm up to you.”

Isobel thought about it, and there was a moment we could go either way. I had no idea which way she was leaning; if I would still get no at the end of it.

Finally, she nodded. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll try again, but Beth is quite a handful. She knows exactly what to say.”

I nodded. “She got her fire and spirit from her mother. I have never been that good with my tongue, that good with words. It’s a wonderful trait, they tell me. Apparently, it points to intelligence. Sometimes, I just wish she would behave.”

Isobel smiled. “I guess this is what women are about. We’re always keeping the men in our lives on their toes.”

I nodded, smiling back at her. The tension had been broken, and I knew that she wasn’t going to leave just yet. It was a relief. There was something about Isobel that made me want to try. She was different than the rest of them; it didn’t matter so much to me that she was so much younger. Everything about her made me feel alive again. As I thought about it, my cock twitched in my pants, and I was reminded of the time we had in my office. With Isobel on my lap, riding me, tits in my face. It had been beyond hot.

I stepped closer to Isobel, pressing my body against hers. She gasped lightly.

“What are you doing?”

I didn’t give her a chance to speak, and I didn’t answer her with words. I grabbed her face and pressed my lips against hers. My tongue slid into her mouth, and I tasted her, explored her. Her hands snaked around my neck, and we stood together in the lecture hall, kissing.

It was getting hot and heavy again. I was already hard in my pants, and the way her body pressed up against mine, the way she gyrated her hips, she was thinking along the same lines as I was. But we were at the college. We were out in the open.

I broke the kiss. “We can’t do this, here,” I said. “We can’t get caught.”

We stepped away from each other, reluctantly. We both knew I was right. We had to be more careful if we were going to do this.

“You’re right,” Isobel said. She flashed me a devilish smile, and it was sexy. “We’ll just have to take this somewhere private, sometime.”

I nodded, wishing we could do it right now. At least, there would be a next time, some time, another time.